+1 for this feature request.
My company’s pc is not allowed to install app
Agree, this would be useful, or the ability to have a portable version of the desktop app so it continues to run locally, but doesn’t require installation. Not sure if that would enable users with the said IBM Carbon Black to use it, but as an alternative to get too focused on web solution
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Those of you who are having work/school IT issues with Obs you could try installing it on a USB stick that might work.
If that doesn’t or you’re using a Chromebook or other device that doesn’t support Obs but run it on another device you could use VSCode for Web on that device and write markdown files with it and import them to Obs when you next use the device it works on. Alternatively, you could install something like Parsec on the personal device that you already have Obs on and access it remotely from work. or school. Parsec has a web app for Client access that doesn’t require anything extra to be installed.
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This could be a very good solution to the install blocked apps in company environments. As I am not that software guy: Is Obsidian a portable app? Hence can you copy it to an usb drive and run it from there?
Best regards,
Peter
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Not a portable app. Some users have claimed to have it running as portable.
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afaics a web version of Obsidian would require a web database. Obsidian Sync already stores vaults online. idk but I would assume that a web version of Obsidian would require quite a bit of extra development. In which case, it seems to me that the earliest it could be done would be well into next year, and even that would assume it was the next major priority target after Live Preview. And pricing-wise it would be Sync+
A quicker, but much less complete and convenient alternative, would be to:
- sync attachments to a cloud drive
- export the vaults to OPML and import the OPML into Dynalist
- use the web version of Dynalist
- export the OPML from Dynalist and import into Obsidian.
Biggest issue is that Dynalist isn’t set up for importing multiple small files which is the reason to use OPML. But reducing a vault to a small number of files then requires using longform markdown files rather than the atomic notes in a single file that is the norm for many Obsidian users. The same amount of information/text is possible but in fewer files and retaining all the ability to link. It effectively uses headers instead of file names. OPML retains all the hierarchies in the markdown files.
A simple way of facilitating management of attachments would be with a simple nesting approach:
- Folder A contains Folder B and Folder C
- Folders A and B are vaults; Folder C is the attachment folder for Vault A
- The export/import/web use is all done with Vault B
- Folder C is synced with a cloud drive and therefore accessible from the web
- Vault A is what is used when not restricted to web use
With less convenience, Folder B could be uploaded to a cloud drive and the files could be read and edited. But linking and search would not be as easy as with the Dynalist option.
This may be a violation of the IT Policy, even if it’s possible.
One of the reasons I’d like a web version is that I don’t want to store my personal work notes on a corporate device. There may be things in there I don’t want to be known by others (i.e. notes just for me) If these are sync’d to a work laptop in a simple text format, they become available to my company.
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Please do this! I´ll even pay for this feature, but this would elevate obsidian to a whole next level!
I make my notes at home for work and when I am at work I have to use iPad/iPhone to be able to use them…
With the possibility to open&edit my notes in a browser would be so much more convenient!
Now I have to use stackedit which is doable and works just fine, but with all the possibilities that obsidian has that would be a godsend…
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Another user here who has a corporate laptop that’s blocked from installing 3rd party apps and would really love a web-interface.
To the comments earlier around IT policy, in may case I’m not looking to add company related notes, just personal stuff. Ideas come up all the time that I’d love to get down before I lose them, and it’s not realistic each time to find my personal laptop…
Take this note for example, which I’m typing on my corporate device. Logging into my Obsidian forum account and posting this is not a violation of company policy, but if there was no web access and i could only post via a desktop app I wouldn’t have been able to add this.
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I am also working in a company with very restrictiv IT security settings, well, it is the IT department of a bank 
Interestingly, I am able to install Obsidian to the local drive of my laptop and I can use it by creating a local vault - which I did. So I use Obsidian in the company with a own vault where I only have company related notes. The IT security is very keen on blocking access to any kind of cloud drives, ftps, sftps, … understandable, as we are wirking with customers data. So a web version of Obsidian would not help me, as the access would be blocked by default.
I could not even request access to the webversion, as it is not a company certified solution and the security guys would say that I have everything what I need for work pre-installed on my laptop - and this is true.
So I am happy that I can install and run Obsidian on my companys laptop, even if I do not have access to my private vault.
Cheers,
Peter
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I’d love to host my own instance of Obsidian for web on Docker.
Reasons as others stated above, platform compatibility, corporate restrictions and just ease of access.
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Work computer user, IT no service manager available due to market shortage, keeps IT to severe inflexible regulations with regards to third party risk, a web version would solve downsized IT and corporate policy issues
If those same policies accept that company / customer datas are uploaded in the cloud, which is in part why a lot of “no third party app on the computer” also exists, as accepted software have been vetted or configured to use on premise storage, partner or contractant services. In most companies writing anything client/company related out of the company is a severe breach of confidentiality.
Wait this feature.
Interesting! So you’re allowed to install any software you find on the internet to your work laptop? In my company this is forbidden. And since most Windows installers need at least local admin rights to install a software I actually can’t install those programs.
For me, a portable version of Obsidian would be helpful. I could use this from a USB thumbdrive which would hold my Obsidian Vault(s), too. This setup would be “a bit more compliant” with the IT security rules in our company.
But there’s no portable version of Obsidian, right?
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The irony is that you could write the same information in a notebook and no-one would blink an eye.
but a notebook isn’t remotely accessed by a password or under forein regulation that can require handing out informations ^^
No, but it can easily be stolen, lost, copied, burned…
A notebook by design belongs to the individual rather than the company, but they’re regularly used to record information which is not public.
A big +1 here. (I would even pay a one-time or monthly fee to support its continued development.)
Obsidian wins for its local pure mark down files and extensibility. Still for 100% coverage of my info, it is important to be able to access that data ANYWHERE so having a web client is a great backup.
(yes, I would loose some privacy, but I can control the subset that the hosting provider can see. But for me, my choice of obsidian is flexibility and control, not privacy, anyway.)
big +1.
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